For all the good (and there is plenty) that Sherri Coale has accomplished with this Oklahoma women's basketball program, games like the one Sunday against No. 2 Duke have become a disappointing regularity.
Under her guidance, the Sooners have become a traditional 20+ game winner and NCAA Tournament team but against the elite programs in women's basketball they routinely fall short.
Which isn't meant to be a shot against Coale, it's just the reality of what has taken place in the past and what we witnessed on Sunday.
For the better part of the first half, OU was able to keep it a close game but as tends to happen they went on a cold streak allowing Duke to push there five point advantage all the way out to 21. Fifteen OU first half turnovers, another constant it seems with Coale teams, played a significant role in the Sooners halftime deficit. Morgan Hook would hit a jumper as time expired in the first half to make it a nineteen point game, but at the time it looked as though OU was in serious jeopardy of being run out of their own gym.
However, again as they are wont to do, OU would make a run in the second half to give you faint hope they might have a chance to get back in it but could never really make it any closer than a nine or ten point game when it still mattered.
You don't need to look much further as to why Oklahoma lost this game than the box score and the fact the Sooners only had five players record points. And one of those, Gioya Carter, managed all of two. Outside of Carter's two points, Hook (24), Aaryn Ellenberg (28), Nicole Griffin (15), and Sharane Campbell (16) were responsible for every point OU recorded in the game. You simply cannot get that little amount of production from your bench and specifically a player like Kaylon Williams and expect to have any chance against the No. 2 ranked team in the country.
Oklahoma will have the remainder of the week off before returning to action on Sunday, December 15th, for a home contest against Maryland Eastern Shore (2:00 p.m. CT on Sooner Sports TV).